“Thy friend has a friend, and thy friend's friend has a friend; be discreet.”
חברך חברא אית ליה וחברא דחברך חברא אית ליה
Text: Wikisource Talmud Bavli via Sefaria (CC-BY-SA)
“Rest satisfied with doing well, and leave others to talk of you as they will.”
“The things most people want to know about are usually none of their business.”
“Count not him among your friends who will retail your privacies to the world.”
“Confidante. One entrusted by A with the secrets of B confided to herself by C.”
“Alas! they had been friends in youth; but whispering tongues can poison truth.”
“So live that you wouldn't be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip.”
“For prying into any human affairs, non are equal to those whom it does not concern.”
“He who hunts for flowers will finds flowers; and he who loves weeds will find weeds.”
“Fire and swords are slow engines of destruction, compared to the tongue of a Gossip.”
“Gossip is the art of saying nothing in a way that leaves practically nothing unsaid.”
“And all who told it added something new, and all who heard it, made enlargements too.”
“The idea of strictly minding our own business is moldy rubbish. Who could be so selfish?”
“If all men knew what each said of the other, there would not be four friends in the world.”
“Conversation is three women stand on the corner talking. Gossip is when one of them leaves.”
“When of a gossiping circle it was asked, What are they doing? The answer was, Swapping lies.”
“Show me someone who never gossips, and I will show you someone who is not interested in people.”
“They come together like the Coroner's Inquest, to sit upon the murdered reputations of the week.”
“There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”
“Remember, every time you open your mouth to talk, your mind walks out and parades up and down the words.”
“I maintain that, if everyone knew what others said about him, there would not be four friends in the world.”
“Don't speak evil of someone if you don't know for certain, and if you do know ask yourself, why am I telling it?”
“Language is the apparel in which your thoughts parade before the public. Never clothe them in vulgar or shoddy attire.”
“Men have always detested women's gossip because they suspect the truth: their measurements are being taken and compared.”
“The objection of the scandalmonger is not that she tells of racy doings, but that she pretends to be indignant about them.”
“Ah, well, the truth is always one thing, but in a way it's the other thing, the gossip, that counts. It shows where people's hearts lie.”
“Avoid inquisitive persons, for they are sure to be gossips, their ears are open to hear, but they will not keep what is entrusted to them.”
“There is so much good in the worst of us, and so much bad in the best of us, that it ill behaves any of us to find fault with the rest of us.”
“Gossip is a sort of smoke that comes from the dirty tobacco-pipes of those who diffuse it: it proves nothing but the bad taste of the smoker.”
“It is perfectly monstrous the way people go about nowadays saying things against one, behind one's back, that are absolutely and entirely true.”